Oscar Contender Anora Debuts With the Year’s Best Platform Opening

For theaters nonetheless in shock over the historic collapse of “Joker: Folie à Deux” (Warner Bros.), there’s optimism with the “Smile 2” opening of $23 million and Sean Baker’s sturdy award contender “Anora” (Neon) changing into the yr’s finest platform debut. (Baker’s additionally becoming a member of IndieWire’s Way forward for Filmmaking Summit November 2.)

In its third weekend, Todd Phillips’ movie grossed underneath $2.2 million to drop one other 69 p.c and place sixth. With $56.4 million in, its home gross will fall in need of $65 million. Dangerous for the studio and worse for the theaters that counted on one other $135 million or so in field workplace income (and accompanying concessions).

With “Smile 2,” Parker Finn’s sequel to his 2022 horror success inched barely forward of the unique’s opening weekend, which went on to gross $90 million. “Smile 2” may have a tough time replicating that, notably with “Venom: The Last Dance” (Sony) debuting this Friday.

It confronted surprising competitors from the second weekend of “Terrifier 3” (Iconic/Cineverse). Damien Leone’s low-budget sleeper got here in third after a shock $19 million #1 final week. It had a decent maintain, down 51 p.c for $9.3 million ($36.2 million to date), with $50 million or higher in view.

“Anora,” the Cannes Palme d’Or winner with a 93 Metacritic rating (the highest amongst all the prime Oscar contenders to date) opened in six New York/Los Angeles theaters. Its $540,000 gross led to a per-theater common of $90,000, the second highest since 2019 (“Asteroid City” final yr did $142,000, additionally in six).

This opening comes simply over 5 years since Neon debuted “Parasite” in three theaters, grossing $393,000. Aiding that phenomenon have been two longstanding Los Angeles venues, each of that are now not in operation. Platform gross performances have fallen sharply since then, additionally on account of the choice for wider preliminary releases.

The sturdy begin will result in two weeks of growth earlier than its preliminary large play on November 8. It’ll have about 30 theaters this Friday and face the large launch of one other sturdy entry, Edward Berger’s “Conclave” (Focus).

Final week’s sturdy platform launch “We Live in Time” (A24) jumped to 955 theaters, coming in fifth with slightly below $4.2 million. The romantic drama with Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh is fueled by an under-35 feminine viewers and is positioned for additional progress.

“The Wild Robot” (Common) held on to second place with the smallest drop (29 p.c) amongst prime 10 holdovers. Its $10.1 million gross put it over $100 million home. It got here out on PVOD final Tuesday and is #1 on iTunes, beating out the additionally just-released “Alien: Romulus.”

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (WB), additionally on PVOD, is fourth, with a shot to succeed in $300 million home. Amongst different second-week large releases, “Piece by Piece” (Focus) is #7, off 45 p.c, and “Saturday Night” (Sony) is #9, down 47 p.c.

A actuality examine about the problem of launching new movies. Two reissues (“The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Hocus Pocus,” each from Disney) and the fifth weekend of “The Substance” (Neon) all grossed higher than three new titles. “Goodrich” (Ketchup, with Michael Keaton), “Rumours” (Bleecker Road) from Cannes and Toronto, and the well-received Sundance title “Exhibiting Forgiveness” (Roadside Sights), every in 630-1,055 theaters, all grossed underneath $700,000. So did the second weekend of “The Apprentice” (Briarcliff).

Enterprise at $71 million was barely down from final yr. Thus far, 2024 stays about 11 p.c off 2023.

High 10

1. Smile 2 (Paramount) NEW – Cinemascore: B; Metacritic: 66; Est. funds: $28 million

$23,000,000 in 3,619 theaters; PTA (per theater common): $6,355; Cumulative: $23,000,000

2. The Wild Robotic (Common) Week 4; Final weekend #2; additionally on PVOD

$10,100,000 (-28%) in 3,829 (-25) theaters; PTA: $2,638; Cumulative: $101,710,000

3. Terrifier 3 (Iconic/Cineverse) Week 2; Final weekend #1

$9,308,000 (-51%) in 2,762 (+248) theaters; PTA: $3,370; Cumulative: $36,215,000

4. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros.) Week 7; Final weekend #3; additionally on PVOD

$5,000,000 (-32%) in 3251 (-157) theaters; PTA: $1,538; Cumulative: $283,973,000

5. We Reside in Time (A24) Week 2; Final weekend #18

$4,186,000 (+1,699%) in 955 (+950) theaters; PTA: $4,250; Cumulative: $4,506,000

6. Joker: Folie à Deux (WB) Week 3; Final weekend #4

$2,180,000 (-69%) in 2,857 (-1,245) theaters; PTA: $763; Cumulative: $56,443,000

7. Piece by Piece (Focus) Week 2; Final weekend #5

$2,100,000 (-45%) in 1,873 (+8) theaters; PTA: $1,873; Cumulative: $7,602,000

8. Transformers One (Paramount) Week 5; Final weekend #6

$1,965,000 (-48%) in 2,169 (-589) theaters; PTA: $906; Cumulative: $56,635,000

9. Saturday Night time (Sony) Week 4; Final weekend #7

$1,800,000 (-47%) in 2,336 (+27) theaters; PTA: $771; Cumulative: $7,632,000

10. The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas (Disney) REISSUE Week 2; Final weekend #9

$1,129,000 (-53%) in 1,860 (+160) theaters; PTA: $607; Cumulative: $(reissue) 4,816,000

Different specialised/unbiased titles

Movies (restricted, expansions of restricted) are listed by week in launch, beginning with these opened this week; after the first three weeks, solely movies with grosses over $5,000 are listed. Metacritic scores and preliminary movie festivals recorded when accessible.

Anora (Neon) NEW – Metacritic: 93; Festivals embrace: Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, New York 2024

$540,000 in 6 theaters; PTA: $90,000

Goodrich (Ketchup) NEW – Metacritic: 65

$625,000 in 1,055 theaters; PTA: $592

Rumours (Bleecker Road) NEW – Metacritic: 70; Festivals embrace: Cannes, Toronto, New York 2024

$314,082 in 630 theaters; PTA: $499

Exhibiting Forgiveness (Roadside Sights) NEW – Metacritic: 83; Festivals embrace: Sundance, New Administrators/New Movies 2024

$275,634 in 774 theaters; PTA: $356

Union (Stage Floor) NEW – Metacritic: 75; Festivals embrace: Sundance, New York 2024

$10,000 in 1 theater; PTA: $10,000

The Line (Utopia) NEW – Metacritic: 74; Festivals embrace: Tribeca 2023

$8,487 in 1 theater; PTA: $8,487